Process for the conservation of the pellicles of hydrate or of hydrated ethers of cellulose



Patented Mar. 16, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEAN DEFAUGAMBEBGE, or rAms, FRANCE, ASSIGNOB TO ,socm'rn rnANC'Arsn mus CmsAnrn'ICmLs, or PARIS, FRANCE, A FRENCH CORPORATION.

PEOCESS FORTEE CONSERVATION OF THE PELLICLES F HYDRATE OR 01 HYDBATED ETHERS OF CELLULOSE.

No Drawing.

To all whom it maycanoem:

Be it known that I, JEAN DEFAUCAM- BERGE, citizen-of the French Republic, residing at Paris, Department of the Seine, in

5 France, and having P. 0. address 16 Rue fdu Louvre, in the vsaid city, have-invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Process for the Conservation of the Pellicles I of Hydrate or of Hydrated Ethers of Cellulose; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

It is known that the bodies of hydrateor hydrated e: ters of cellulose, such as those obtained by bringing about the coagulation of a solution of cellulose in an aqueous medium, contract very greatly while losing 20 their combined water.

If this complete desiccation occurs ona support, the pellicle or film of cellulose moulds itself exactly .thereupon, and keeps its shape definitely, even if it is moistened afresh. This property has been utilized more particularly for capping containers thev perfect tightness of which it is dezired to secure.

In order to be adapted to industrial applications of this kind. the cellulose compounds should be preserved up to the moment they are used from any contraction and consequently'from any change of condition. This result has been'obtainedhitherto by storing the cellulose compounds in a liquid which has been made aseptic in order to prevent the growth of molds which spoil wet cellulose. It was in these conditions of storage that they were supplied commercially and 40 this process is not without drawbacks; besides its very high cost, the packing isfragile and bulky.

The subject of the invention is a method of treating such cellulose compounds which permits of their conservation with the desired degree of hydration up to the moment of their use. This method, more convenient and less troublesome than storage in a bulky liquid mass, renders unnecessary all special precautions in the conservation and transport of the product.

For this purpose use is made of the property possessed by delique'scent bodies or salts of dissolving in the'water of'the hydrate or Application filed January 12,1924. Serial No. 685,933.

of the hydrated esters. of cellulose without changing their composition, on condition that they are kept in a normal atmosphere. These deliquescent bodies are chosen from those which exert an antiseptic action or,

if they do not possess such, there is added to them a substance .which prevents the growth of molds and fermentsl For example, the cellulose compounds to be conserved may be immersed in a 40% solution of magnesium chloride, in such manner that they may be completely impregnated with it; they will subsequently be simply drained until they have given up the excess of this solution; they can then be stored and transported like any other goods. When the compounds are to. be used, it will sufiice to soak them in water in order to remove the greater part of the deliquescent body, before applying them tothe article to be moulded; they will behave on drying exactly like similar compounds which have been conserved in water.

It is to be clearly understood that magnesium chloride is mentioned here merely by way of example of one application of 8 the invention, any other delique71cent body, containing a sufficiency of water, either itself antiseptic or to which an innocuous antiseptic is added, is equally suitable for maintaining, without any storing in av liquid mass, the degree of hydration of the cellulose compounds, which resists any change of state and more particularly any contraction.

What I claim is:

1. The method of preserving hydrated 00 cellulose compounds liable to change on drying, which consists in impregnating said compounds with a solution of a deliquescent and antiseptic agent.

2. The method of preserving hydrated cellulose compounds liable to change on drying, which consists .in impregnating said compounds with a solution ofa deliquescent and antiseptic agent and removing the excess solution. I

3. The method of preserving hydrated cellulose compounds liable to change on drying, which consists in impre ating saidcompounds witha solution 0, magnesium chloride.

In testimony ture.

JEAN DEFAUGAMBERGE.

. whereof I afiix my signa- 

